ducklings with mother

[deeganjd]

A pet mallard in our big pond had 10 ducklings, the first part of April . I caught them all and put in an old dog pen for safety and mother followed into the pen. All is well with the family, my question is can I let the mother out of the pen now or wait until I release them all back to the pond when they get old enough? question 2, Today I noticed the mother had made a nest of six eggs on top of a bale of straw in the pen. She has not been out of the pen since I put them all in the first part of April. Will she continue to sit on nest and will they hatch or because of her confinement nothing will happen?

 

[jessiduck]

Okay !

1: Release them all together! It would be cruel to "throw her out" without her babies! (It will be better once the babies get bigger!)
So, for now you can keep them in the brooder together.
2: You should probably wait till her other eggs hatch to let them all go, unless you want to put them in an incubator.
Her eggs should hatch just fine and she will most likely continue you to nest on top of them.
If she lets you, you can candle the eggs to see if they have been fertilized!


Hope this helps!!!

 

[deeganjd]

Thanks, I will keep them all together until release time. We are new and learning how do you tell if the eggs are fertilized? Can they be if she has been in the pen since the first of April?

 

[deeganjd]

I just saw pics of fertilized eggs on another post. Still have the question of her being in pen for a month can they be fertile?

 

[country_girl011]

if this duck you caught is a wild mallard you need to let her go now with her babies.
harrasing a wild mallard or her babies is illegal.
she has probably raised her babies lots of times. and can do it again just fine without interference.
and she wouldnt lay more eggs if you caught her with her babies at the same time.

 

[sourland]

The eggs will not be fertile unless a drake has had access to the pen.

 

[deeganjd]

Our mallard is not wild and a drake has not had access to the pen so that answer that question. Thanks ya'll for the info

 

[deeganjd]

If the eggs are not fertile will she still sit on the nest for the full 28 days. Our girl is sitting on the nest, she did get out once after she laid a few eggs and when I got her back in the pen she laid some more eggs. So I guess she could have both kind of eggs in the nest.